Skaro
by Kitten Kong Destroyed Wotan
Summary: Part 2 of Doctor Who 2263The TARDIS has arrived on a barren planet, the TARDIS is damaged and its been followed...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Unpleasant Planet

The Doctor stared at the landscape around him, grey rocks and dust all over. There was a forest in the distance that was just as grey as everything else and beyond that a bright gleaming city. Something terrible had happened here, he could feel it in the air. He turned back towards the TARDIS; he couldn't see any sign of external damage done by the Raston Warrior Robot except…

"It's still a Police Box."

"Why's that a problem?" Ian asked staring at it, "I know it's an odd shape for a time machine but there's no point in complaining."

"No you don't understand Chesterton, it's supposed to change its shape to fit in with the surroundings," the Doctor explained his temper rising just a fraction, "So when it materialised in that museum place it took on this appearance as one of the exhibits."

"Well how does it work then?"

"I told you I don't know."

"Oh. What do you think it would have become this time then?"

"Probably a lump of rock," Susan suggested.

"Well that would have made it very hard for us to find it then," Ian said, "There are loads of rocks round here."

"Yes but the whole point is that nobody else finds it," the Doctor said, "The system that operates the disguise thing seems to have been damaged as well as a few other vital operational systems. We need to find help."

"Because you don't know how to fix it," Barbara commented.

The Doctor replied to this with a very intimidating stare and Barbara turned away.

"Well I suppose the best place to find help would be that city," Susan said.

"Yes but it's an awfully long way from here," Ian said, "Plus well have to go through that forest which doesn't look very pleasant to me."

"Ian no part of this planet looks very pleasant," Barbara said.

A few of the forest trees had been knocked down from the impact while others had just had some branches casually removed. These now lay in a heap on the floor. The heap shifted, and then was thrown away revealing a shining silver man. The Raston Warrior Robot. It sent a report back to its base then awaited orders.

It took them a while to reach the forest, nearly an hour. They made there way through it carefully, trying not to trip over any roots or branches. The Doctor then noticed something about the ground and he bent down to have a look.

"Doctor this is no time to be looking at the floor," a frustrated Ian said.

The Doctor ignored this comment, "Chesterton what do you think this ground is made of?"

"Soil presumably."

"No," the Doctor said and took a handful of it and held it out to Ian.

"Ashes," Ian was shocked to see this, what could turn a large area of soil into ashes.

"Exactly, look around you, what does the appearance of these trees tell you?" the Doctor asked.

The other three looked round at their surroundings, and then Barbara spoke.

"A fire perhaps?"

"Yes I should think so," the Doctor said.

"Then why are all the trees still standing?" Ian asked, "If there was a fire intense enough to do that to the soil then the trees would have been burnt out of existence, and with ashes instead of soil they certainly wouldn't have grown back again."

"No I don't think they have either been burnt down or re-grown," the Doctor said. He grabbed a branch off one of the trees and broke it off in his bare hands, "Petrified," he announced to his stunned audience.

"This can't have been a fire then," Susan said looking round.

"Then it must have been something much worse," Barbara said.

"Yes well we'll have time to find that out when we get to the city," the Doctor said, "I think we should press on.

Hidden deep in the petrified foliage a man watched the Doctor and the others; he couldn't hear what they were saying from this distance though. Then they walked off. The man stayed where he was for a few minutes longer then departed as well.

Barbara felt very nervous as they walked through the forest; these feelings increased the longer then went. It was at least five hours before they were distracted again. They'd just found there way into a clearing when Susan collapsed.

"Susan what's the matter?" Ian asked, sounding worried.

"I…I'm alright," Susan said as the Doctor and Ian helped her get to her feet, but she collapsed again.

"Evidently you're not alright child," the Doctor said.

Ian looked up at the sky; it seemed to be getting darker. Not that it couldn't get much darker then before, it had been pretty murky when they arrived.

"Hey Doctor how soon do you think night falls here?" Ian asked.

"I don't know, why?"

"Because it seems to be falling now," Ian said.

"I see you're point. I don't think it would be wise to carry on at night though; maybe we should stay here until it gets lighter. Maybe get some sleep."

"Good suggestion," Ian said, "Barbara what do you think?"

"I agree with the Doctor," Barbara said.

"Me too," Susan added.

The Raston Warrior robot had remained where it was since it had sent out its message, it would take a while for the signal to reach its destination and then the same amount of time for the reply to come.

Susan woke up with start. She'd been having a nightmare about the Raston Warrior Robot. It had been chasing her down several completely deserted dark streets until finally it had cornered her in a dead end. Then it had leapt out at her. Susan looked round the clearing. Ian was and the Doctor were both lying on the ground sleeping and Barbara…wasn't there. Susan stood up a little unsteady. She looked through the gaps in the trees round them; there was no sign of Barbara. The sky was lighter now, just. How long had they all been sleeping for. Susan decided to wake the Doctor and Ian to tell them the bad news.

Barbara was moving through the forest on her own. She felt dizzy and was completely unaware of where she was or what she was doing. She hadn't been able to sleep unlike the others; they hadn't been actually injured by the Raston Warrior Robot. She'd been feeling very disorientated, then she just got up and wandered off. She'd been going through the forest for several hours now, stumbling and falling every so often. Then finally she collapsed on a shining metal floor.

The Doctor, Ian and Susan were calling out Barbara's name in a desperate attempt to find her again. They'd been searching for at least half and hour and hadn't found anything.

"It's not like Barbara to wonder off on a strange planet," Ian commented, "I don't see why she would."

"What exactly are you suggesting Chesterton?" the Doctor asked.

"I'm suggesting that maybe someone has turned up and abducted her Doctor."

"And what evidence have you got for that possibility? We have seen any sign of life since we got here and if she was abducted why where the rest of us left behind?"

"Well if she was it was probably because she's a woman," Ian said.

"Then why didn't they take me as well then?" Susan asked.

"Probably because Barbara is a bit older then you Susan," Ian said.

_Message received and understood_.

_Current situation considered_.

40 _possibility of targets on same planet_.

_Suggested action scan planet for life signs_, _find any which may be the targets and kill them_.

The Raston Warrior Robot processed the information quickly and started sending pulsing signals out across the planet. It detected several different blips as the signals spread out across the planet. It locked on to the blips; it was now able to track the movements of all life on the planet. It selected any that might be its targets, the Doctor and Susan. It selected any groups of two where once was male and the other female. It singled out the nearest group and headed straight for them.

Barbara woke up, she looked round where she was. It wasn't the forest. She now in what she presumed was a street. The walls of the buildings seemed to be made from metal, as was the floor. Barbara tried to remember what had been happening to her, but all she could remember was sitting in that clearing with the others then a sense of dizziness, nothing else. She didn't know what had happened in between, she decide she didn't want to know. All she knew that she must now be insider the city they'd been heading for. She couldn't see anyone around; perhaps it was devoid of life like the rest of the planet seemed to be. But perhaps everyone was indoors; every building seemed to have an open door. There weren't any windows in the buildings though. All the building seemed to be connected together, so perhaps the whole city was just one massive structure. There were covered bridges passing over the streets at intervals. Barbara thought she could hear a faint rumbling coming from a few of them, as though a vehicle was passing over them. This must mean that there was someone here. She peered round all the buildings, then selected one at random and went inside.

The Doctor watched Ian as he climbed up one of the trees to try and get a better view. He'd warned Ian that the fact that the trees could be broken easily would make this exercise very dangerous; in fact Ian had already sent several different branches to the ground which had all shattered like glass on impact. Now the Doctor and Susan were standing back from any more debris Ian planned on introducing to the force of gravity. Ian finally got to the top and looked at the vast view. There wasn't much, there certainly wasn't any sign of Barbara.

"I can't see her Doctor," Ian called down, "But we seem to be quite near the city now."

"Well come back again _carefully_ and we'll be getting even nearer the city," the Doctor said.

"Grandfather, do you think Barbara's gone to the city?" Susan asked.

"I don't know my dear, I really don't know. Now mind that falling branch."

The Raston Warrior Robot was getting nearer its first targets now; it could hear them in the distance. It prepared itself to strike, and to kill.

Barbara wandered through a puzzling maze of corridors that didn't really seem to lead anywhere, except into more corridors, she was now completely lost. She'd tried to find a way back out again but had just got even more lost and confused then before. The corridors themselves were also made entirely out of metal; there were a series of small spheres mounted into the wall near the ceiling about a metre apart from each other. Barbara had noticed them when she came in and hadn't really been looking at them since. If she had she would have noticed that each one was rolling over to reveal a round lens set into it, and each lens was being turned towards her. Watching her, and following her. Barbara carried on through the corridors; she seemed to have been wandering through them for hours. Eventually she decides to have a rest and sat down against one of the walls. She stayed there for at least fifteen minutes before standing up again. What would she do know? She'd try and retrace her steps back outside again. Then something grabbed her from behind. She looked round to a round hole had opened up in the wall and a robotic tentacle had come out of it, it had three curved claws (at least that's what they seemed to be) on the end. And these claws were now locked tightly around Barbara's right wrist. She tried to pull away from it but another tentacle came out of the wall and grabbed her other wrist. Then pulled her back against the wall and a smaller hole opened up and a metal cable came out and wrapped it self round her neck, another round her waist, then two more round her ankles. Barbara was now completely pinned to the wall with no way of escaping, then part of the wall in front of her opened up to reveal another corridor. Only this time there was something in it, only a few metres away from her. Barbara stared at it in horror and then it released a blinding flash of light.


	2. The Daleks

Chapter 2: The Daleks

The Doctor, Ian and Susan emerged from the forest; there was the city just a few yards away from them. It certainly stood out from the rest of the bleak landscape of the planet.

"Doesn't look quite so impressive close up does it," Ian commented.

"That might be because close up you can't see quite as much of it," the Doctor said.

"True. Do you think Barbara might be in there?"

"I don't know, but if she isn't we can always ask the inhabitants if they can help us look for her."

Then the Doctor strode off towards the city, Ian and Susan followed quickly after him. When they inside the city it seemed very different to how it had looked from the outside. The Doctor didn't like it, he felt as though there was some evil present. He stood just by the entrance sizing up the situation and any risks they might encounter.

"Susan I think you should stay here for the time being?" he said.

"Why?"

"I think it could be dangerous in there," the Doctor explained, and he sounded like he really meant it.

"Alright I'll stay here."

"Good girl, and if she hear any sounds of trouble, run, get away from here. Back to the TARDIS and wait outside it."

"Alright, be careful Grandfather."

"I will Susan, don't worry about me," and with that the Doctor strode off down the cities streets, Ian followed him.

Susan watched them go, hoping that they wouldn't encounter any danger.

_Target possibility sighted_.

_Two specimens_, _one male, one female_.

_Age of female_: _approximately 15 years_, _possibility of actual target_: 80, _action_: _kill_.

_Age of male_: _Approximately 16 years_, _possibility of actual target_: 0, _action_, _ignore unless attempts are made to prevent death of other specimen_.

The Raston Warrior Robot was hiding in the dead foliage, two people were approaching. They were a similar age to Susan; there was a boy and a girl. They were both talking and laughing happily. They passed by and the robot stepped out of its hiding place. Then it fired a spear needle right into the girls back. She collapsed, blood flowing out of where the spear had struck, it had gone right through her. The boy turned round to see the robot, he then looked at the girl. Then he shot towards the robot which released a series of small needles straight at the boy who collapsed, paralyzed. The robot stepped over the boy and headed towards the girl. She was still alive but dying from blood loss. The robot could tell that she was shaking with fear. The robot casually fired another spear into her head.

_Status report_

_Female specimen executed_, _male specimen disabled_.

_Confirm executed specimen is required target_…_NEGATIVE_.

Ian and the Doctor continued walking down the city streets, there was no sign of life…anywhere. They were still debating whether they should enter any of the buildings or not. They didn't look very inviting.

"Doctor I don't think we're going to find any help here," Ian said nervously.

"Well even if there isn't anybody here there should at least be some scientific equipment with which we can use to…" the Doctor didn't finish what he was saying; he just collapsed for no apparent reason.

"Doctor what's wrong?"

The Doctor got to his feet again, groaning slightly. He looked round the street they were in, he felt a sense of foreboding now, and he didn't know why.

"I think we'd better go," he said, "There's something dangerous here."

The two of them turned round and saw that the street was blocked. By a machine. It was about the height of a man. The very top part was a domed shape with stalk coming out of the front, running along this stalk were a series of discs and a sphere on the end with one side flattened out and holding a lens. The lower part was covered in a series of half spheres and in the middle two tubes were pointing at them. The machine also had two robotic tentacles with three fingered claws on the end. The machine was mostly coloured a light blue while the half spheres were a darker blue. Then it spoke, the dome flashing in unison with its speech.

"Intruders. Surround them."

The Doctor and Ian looked round to see more of the machines appearing out of the buildings and side streets. Then one of the machines approached them, a beam of light came out of one of its tubes at the Doctor's forehead. The Doctor stood there, frozen for a few seconds. Then the light shut off. The machine turned the dome until the stalk was facing another one of the machines.

"There is another waiting by the entrance to the city," it said, "Find them and bring them back here."

"I obey," the second machine said and drifted off across the streets.

"Search them," the first machine said.

The machines grabbed the Doctor and Ian, the tentacles playing over their bodies searching for anything that might be of relevance. All they found was a small piece of metal on a chain that the Doctor had round his neck. The key to the TARDIS.

"Take them to the cell."

The machines then started pushing the Doctor and Ian towards the entrance to one of the buildings. The Doctor thought that Ian had been right. They weren't going to find any help here at all.

Susan heard something; she looked down the street in front of her and saw the machine approaching her. Slowly she backed away from it, then turned and ran into the forest. The machine continued on until it came to the edge of the city. It stared after her as she disappeared into the dead foliage. Then its tentacles retracted and it rose into the air, a blue light coming from its base. It drifted over the forest. Searching for Susan.

Barbara didn't know what had happened. All she could remember was seeing the machine approaching her and then the flash of light. She thought it had probably used a stun ray or something similar. She'd woken up in a completely empty room, the space inside was about a three metre cube. Enough space to not make its occupant feel claustrophobic fortunately. Barbara sat on the floor leaning against one of the walls, wondering where she was and what the machine was planning to do with her, or what had already done to her. Then the wall opened and the Doctor and Ian were pushed inside by three of the machines. Then the wall closed behind them.

"Ian, are you alright?" Barbara asked, relieved to see them again.

"I'm alright, for the moment."

"Where's Susan?"

"Safe, I hope."

"But I've a feeling we'll be seeing her soon," the Doctor said gravely. Then he collapsed again.

Susan ran through the forest. There was no sign of the machine. Maybe it had gone back. She hoped it had. She stopped running, she was out of breath. She looked round. She felt dizzy. Her vision of the forest swam in and out of focus. Then she collapsed. Unconscious.

"Doctor. Doctor what's wrong?"

Ian was trying to rouse the Doctor; he was still lying on the floor groaning slightly. Ian was frantic, the Doctor was their reason for being here and only he could really get them out of here.

"What do you thinks wrong with him?" Barbara asked.

"I don't know, I'm no Doctor."

"Is there anything we can do for him?"

"We can only wait for his condition to return to normal."

"Yes but if he's an alien we don't know what normal is for him," Barbara commented, "I mean even this could be normal."

"Do you think so?"

"Well no, not really."

"Blimey I feel hot," Ian said wiping sweat from his forehead.

"Me too," Barbara said, "And sleepy."

"Well try to stay awake," Ian said, "I need your help with the Doctor."

Barbara didn't reply. She'd drifted into unconsciousness. Ian sighed looking at the other two. For the time being he was alone.

Susan woke up, she still felt a bit dazed and she couldn't see clearly. What she could tell was that she was lying on rough ground; the air now seemed a lot colder then it had been earlier. After a few minutes her vision started to clear up. She could see a man in the distance with his back to her. He was peering through the dead plants as though he was looking for something. He then turned round and walked towards her. The man had quite a strong build, his face showed signs of friendliness. He had blond hair and his skin had a slight blue tint to it. His clothes were fairly tight fitting and were made out of some artificial yellow material; he was also wearing a fur cloak. He knelt down in front of Susan and smiled. Susan felt a slight sense of nervousness towards the man; she knew that appearances could be deceiving.

"Who are you?" she asking after a brief pause.

"My name is Anecdone," the man replied, "I'm a Thal. The native life form on this planet."

"What was that machine that came out of the city?" Susan asked, still feeling nervous.

"A Dalek. A creature of pure hatred. Inside that machine is a small green mutation, about this big," Anecdone held up his hands about a foot apart to illustrate, "They were Thals like me…well not quite like me. There was a disease long ago which turned them into those hideous creatures. Our scientists tried to find ways of helping them survive, so they built those machines as a life support system. Then they discovered that the disease altered the minds as well as the bodies of its victims."

"How?"

"It removed any sort of emotion from their minds. Our scientists tried to counteract this but all they could preserve was hate. The Daleks turned on us, exterminated most of the Thal population. The Daleks then retreated into the cities and took on a new name, the same name that had been given to the virus they'd all been infected by. Ever since they've been trying to get rid of the survivors. Once they set off a nuclear explosion which spread radiation across the whole planet. A fair few of us died but the others managed to find a drug which would counteract its affects. How long have you been here?"

Susan thought hard, "I'd say a day, nearly two."

"Then you're more than likely to have been affected by the radiation," Anecdone said very gravely.

Susan was shocked to hear this, they were lucky to still be alive. Then she had another feeling of dizziness and collapsed again.

"I should say that confirms it," Anecdone said taking a small box out of a pocket in his cloak.

Susan looked at it as he opened it. Inside were a few small glass tubes with plastic caps on the ends containing a blue liquid. Anecdone took one out and gave it to Susan.

"What is it?" Susan asked groggily.

"A drug, to fight the effects of the radiation."

Susan took the tube that Anecdone was offering her, removed the cap and swallowed the liquid that was inside. She shuddered; the taste was like everything else on the planet. Unpleasant. Susan shivered slightly; the cold seemed to be getting to her. Anecdone took his cloak off and put it round her.

"Listen, you should get these drugs to your friends, they'll need them otherwise they might die very soon," Anecdone said putting the drugs back in the cloak pocket.

"Alright, I'll try," Susan said, unsure of how exactly she was going to do it.

Then from out of nowhere they saw a flash of light and small patch of ground explode, ashes flying everywhere.

"What was that?" Susan asked shaking from the shock of the event.

Anecdone looked up and saw what he knew would be there. The Dalek was almost directly above them…


	3. The Delta Wave

Chapter 3: the Delta Wave

They both stared at the Dalek, and it stared at them, all three remaining completely still. Then Anecdone spoke.

"We should both run, in separate directions. It can't follow both of us."

"What if it catches one and goes after the other?"

"Hopefully they'll be far away enough. When I say go, run as fast you can."

The Dalek adjusted the position of both its gun sticks, one pointing at Susan, the other at Anecdone.

"Go."

Susan ran, the Dalek stayed put, it just watched her go. Then turned towards Anecdone and fired a beam of light which hit him straight in the back. He froze, the light still connected to him. He then stood up straight and ran backwards towards the Dalek which descended to ground level. It turned to face in the direction that Susan had gone and Anecdone moved to a position in front of the Dalek. He then strode off into the forest, the beam of light running behind him.

Susan ran through the forest as fast as she could, trying not to trip over dead tree roots or anything else that might be lying around. But then she did trip over something, and it was a bit bigger then a tree root. Susan turned round to see what she had tripped over. It was a body, there was a short spear sticking out of the back of its head, Susan recognised it as one of the weapons used by the Raston Warrior robot. The body was the girl it had killed earlier. Judging by her skin colour Susan assumed that she was another Thal. Susan looked round and saw the boy that had been with her, he was still covered with the paralysis needles but he seemed to be moving. Just. He looked at her for a few seconds then turned away. Susan wandered what she should do. Should she try to help them or carry on running from the Dalek? Then she was presented with an answer, neither. Anecdone appeared from behind her and grabbed her, throwing his arms round her and pining her to his chest. Susan struggled against it but he was to strong. He then started dragging her backwards, back towards the Dalek. When they got there Anecdone released her and the Dalek hit her with the same beam of light as it had Anecdone. Susan straightened up like Anecdone then they both started walking zombie like in front of the Dalek. They'd both become mere puppets for it, the only thing they now had control of was their own thoughts.

They were soon back in the Dalek city. The Dalek directed them into one of the buildings and eventually into a large room with several consoles lining the walls, most of the Daleks in here were white ones but there was also a Black one as well. It approached them as they came into the room.

"I have captured the other creature that came with the last two we took prisoner," it reported, "I have also captured a Thal for use as a guinea pig."

Susan wandered if the Daleks were aware of the concept of stating the obvious. Then it wandered what it meant by Guinea Pig. She didn't know what the phrase meant. The Dalek released Anecdone and one of the white Daleks descended upon him grabbing him with the robotic tentacles. Then the Dalek pulled him towards a large transparent cylinder in the middle of the room. The cylinder had a small entrance just about big enough to admit a Dalek; it also had a control panel mounted onto the side. Susan then noticed a pile of small black boxes lying next to it. The Dalek picked one up and placed it in the cylinder with Anecdone. Susan then spotted nearby on one of the consoles the key to the TARDIS. She focussed her mind on it and it vanished, reappearing in the pocket of the cloak that Anecdone had given her. The black Dalek turned towards the cylinder and the white Dalek which was now positioned in front of the control panel.

"Activate," the black Dalek ordered.

The white Dalek operated the controls with its tentacles. Anecdone looked at the box as it started to hum. He felt a great pain in his head. Then he let out a loud scream, holding his head for all the pain. He collapsed, still screaming. Then he stopped and his body slackened. He was dead.

"Delta Wave test proves effective on the Thal brain," the white Dalek said, "When shall we have the main transmitter ready?"

"Have it ready for within the next 48 hours," the black Dalek said not noticing one of the boxes disappear. Then it turned towards the Dalek that had brought Susan and Anecdone in, "Take her to the cell with the other three."

"I obey," the Dalek replied, it turned away and left the room with Susan in front of him.

Susan would have closed her eyes if she could during the test, she didn't want to witness a man's death. But then she thought the Doctor might want to examine one of those boxes, which was why she had one in her pocket.

Ian was startled to see the door open, and he certainly wasn't happy to see Susan come in. The Dalek released her from its control and she collapsed as the door closed. Ian tried to get up to help her but he could barely move.

"Susan…are…are you…alright?" he asked weakly, Susan realised that he didn't have much time left and took the box of drugs that Anecdone had given her out the pocket and gave Ian one of the small tubes.

"Drink this," she said, "Quickly."

Ian drank it; he shuddered at the taste of it but began to feel the difference it was making. Susan then turned to see that the Doctor and Barbara were both still unconscious. She couldn't think of a way to safely give them the drugs while they were like this. Then she had an idea. She took two of the tubes out of the box then concentrated on them hard. Then the liquid inside vanished. Now all they could do was wait.

"Still no sign of Anecdone?"

"No Yistel, I haven't seen him for a few hours."

"What about my son and daughter, have they returned?"

"No sir."

"I don't understand. There are no dangerous predators in the forests and the Daleks don't come out of their city to try and hunt us down. So why have they disappeared?"

The Thals had a small settlement in the forest. It wasn't much. Just a few huts made from branches and other materials. They did have a few bits of technology. This they used to make food, clothes and heat. The only real necessities it offered. Some of them occasionally left the settlement to go for a bit of exercise or to observe any activity in the Dalek city. They didn't know what they would be planning next. The radiation attack had been bad enough but it still hadn't wiped them out and the Daleks knew that the Thals couldn't just be hunted down and destroyed. Their leader, Yistel was getting worried. His son and daughter had both gone for a walk in the forest and hadn't returned. They'd said they'd be back by now. Then he heard something in rustling the dead foliage. He looked round to see his son stagger out of it, still with a few needles from the Raston Warrior Robot's attack embedded in him. Yistel ran up to him, relieved to see that he was back.

"Untan, are you alright? Where's Tila?" he asked franticly, then he saw the tears welling up in his son's eyes.

"Tila's dead father," he said.

Susan had been looking round the cell and had spotted a sphere mounted in the wall just above the doorway; closer inspection revealed that it was a surveillance camera. The Doctor, Ian and Barbara had now recovered from the effects of the radiation. The Doctor was now looking at the camera with great interest.

"Fascinating design, I noticed these in the corridors outside. They made them look like they were just decoration. Most ingenious."

"Doctor I don't really think we should be admiring the Daleks workmanship when it comes to something like closed circuit television," Ian said, "The point is that if we try to escape the Daleks will notice."

"Then we'll have to put it out of action then won't we," the Doctor said in a way that suggested he was about to shout EUREKA!

"Let me try," Susan said. She focussed her mind on the camera then closed her eyes to improve her concentration. The camera let out a small explosion which blew the lens off then it started to smoke.

"Well that was easier then anticipated," the Doctor chuckling.

The Daleks that had been manning the surveillance screens that showed the output of all the cameras stared at the one screen that was active, which wasn't active anymore. The cameras only came into operation if they detected non Dalek movement in the area. One of the activated a communication system with one of its tentacles.

"The prisoners have managed to disable the surveillance camera in the cell," it reported.

"Ignore it," the reply came in a deep voice that was clearly not a normal Dalek, "It is not of importance."

"We understand," both Daleks said in unison.

"I want the prisoners brought to me for interrogation," the voice said.

"Understood," both Daleks said again, and then one of them left the room.

The Doctor had put the TARDIS key back in his pocket and was now examining the box that Susan had brought.

"This is very interesting," he said, "I don't know what it is but from what you said it could be pretty deadly. What did you say they called it again?"

"A delta wave," Susan said.

"Well that's a new one on me," Ian said, "Do you know what it is Doctor?"

"In a word, no."

"Barbara?"

"Means nothing here, I don't really understand that sort of thing."

"Well I think we should hold onto it for now," the Doctor said, "It may come in handy for making an attempt to escape."

"How do we do that?" Barbara asked.

"Well hopefully a Dalek may come through this door," the Doctor said, "Providing us a way out."

"And providing it with an excuse to kill us," Ian said, "If they can. Those gun stick things at the front certainly haven't shown that they can kill yet, but if they can't they could still strangle us."

"I'm aware of that."

"So what do we do?"

"We could try blinding it," Barbara suggested.

"And how do we do that?" The Doctor asked.

"With this," Susan said holding up her cloak.

"Brilliant idea, now we just throw that over its eye then we try to run for it."

"Emphasis on the word 'try' Doctor," Ian said, "Do you really think we'll manage to get away without the Dalek fighting back?"

"No," the Doctor said and left it at that.

The Dalek positioned itself in front of the cell door.

"Open," it ordered, "Security code 82U02X from Dalek D92Z4C."

The Door opened. The Dalek entered, the Doctor was standing right in front of it.

"You will come with m…" the Dalek never got the whole sentence out as Susan through the cloak over it.

The Dalek reacted almost instantly firing away with its gun sticks, the Doctor just managed to get out of the way. The Dalek's tentacles were flailing madly, one of them knocked Barbara over while the other grabbed Susan around the throat.

"I was right then," Ian said as he tried to prise them off Susan, "It could just strangle us to death."

He kept trying to pull the claws form the tentacle away but the more he tried the tighter they seemed to get.

"Ian stop it you're just making things worse," Susan cried with difficulty.

Susan then remembered the Delta Wave box. There it was, sitting on the floor. She closed her eyes and focussed mentally on it. It vanished, and then Susan switched it on. The Dalek gave out a loud scream and then stopped. Susan switched the delta wave off.


	4. Escape

Chapter 4: Escape

The Delta Wave box reappeared in Susan's hands. The Dalek was now completely still; the Doctor looked at it with interest. Then found a small switch mounted on the back. He flicked the switch and the Daleks mid section opened. Inside was a series of electronics and wired into them a small grey creature with tentacles and one eye. It was dead.

"Well I'm glad I'm not one of those then," Ian said to himself, "Could you close it Doctor it's making me sick to look at it."

"Perfectly understandable," the Doctor said and closed it.

"So what do we do know?" Barbara asked.

"We leave," Susan said quickly, "And take this with us."

"Why?" Barbara asked.

"Well it must have come here to take us somewhere; we can make any other Daleks we pass look like its taking us there."

"Well where was it going to take us?" Barbara asked.

Susan placed her hands on the Daleks top and closed her eyes. The Daleks last instructions flashed through her mind.

"For interrogation," she said taking her hands off it.

"Well then lets go and get interrogated," Ian said chuckling slightly but stopped at the very stern look the Doctor was giving him.

A small group of Thals arrived at their encampment dragging something behind them. The TARDIS.

"What is this?" Yistel asked the group.

"We don't know," on of them said, "We found it in the wasteland outside the forest. It took us a while to bring it here. We think it might have planted there by the Daleks as a weapon."

"An interesting shape for a weapon," Yistel muttered, "What about the markings on it," he added indicating Police Box signs and public information notice on front, none of the Thals could read, and they wouldn't have been able to read Earth language anyway.

"We don't know about that either," another Thal replied, "They don't use regular Dalek characters."

"Then it is clearly not of Dalek origin," Yistel said.

"How could it be? There aren't any other forms of intelligent life on this planet that could build something like this."

"There aren't any other forms of intelligent life that we know about," Yistel replied, "Prehaps it's a group we've never encountered."

"Then why would they plant this in the wasteland.

There was a pause in the conversation.

"I don't know," Yistel said and left it at that.

The Dalek glided along the corridor easily with the Doctor, Ian Barbara and Susan just in front of it. Susan was concentrating heavily on keeping the Dalek in motion, but to do this was using up a lot of her concentration so she couldn't control where she was going so the Doctor was holding onto her and steering her in the right direction. They passed several other Daleks on the way which had ignored them. Gradually control over the Dalek became much easier and Susan was able to focus more on what she was doing and control the Dalek subconsciously.

"How far you think it is till the way out?" Barbara asked.

"No idea," Ian replied, "These corridors are like a maze."

Another Dalek glided past.

"Do you think they might be getting suspicious?" Barbara asked.

"I don't think so," Ian replied, "Why?"

"We could try to make this a bit more convincing."

"How?"

"One of us could try to escape."

"I don't think we should do that," the Doctor said, "Whoever tried could get killed."

"He's got a point," Ian said, "I don't think we should risk it."

"I'll do it," Susan said.

"No I forbid it," the Doctor said seriously.

Susan ignored, then she ran back down the corridor keeping control of the Dalek which turned round and followed her.

"Stupid child," the Doctor muttered to himself.

Susan kept running and then turned the corner down another corridor. Then she saw in front of her another Dalek, a black one. It turned towards her and fired it weapon at her. She fell on the floor, unable to move. She watched the Dalek draw closer to her and kept the other one closing in from behind. If locked the claw from one its tentacles round her neck and pulled her upright.

"If she tries to escape again exterminate her," the black Dalek said.

"I obey."

The Dalek and Susan rejoined the Doctor, Ian and Barbara. Susan removing the paralytic effect of the Dalek's weapon mentally and was soon walking again.

"That was a very foolish thing to do Susan and you know it," the Doctor said, "And as for you," he added turning to Barbara, "It was very stupid to suggest the idea in the first place."

They all remained silent as the Doctor continued to rant on and on about stupidity and how Susan could have been killed. Then Ian interrupted him.

"Doctor, I think we're crossing one of the bridges."

"What makes you think so?" the Doctor asked.

"Well…" Ian jumped on the floor, it sounded a bit different from the floor the rest of the way, like it was hollow, "I think we should get off here."

"I agree the," Doctor said.

"Stand back then," Susan said as the Dalek backed against one of walls.

They all stood a short distance from the Dalek as both its gun sticks raised. It then blasted a large hole in the wall. Ian looked out of it; they seemed to be a few floors up from where they'd been, he hadn't noticed any sign of changing levels.

"It's quite a drop," he said, "Maybe we should try a little lower…"

He stopped as he saw the Dalek glide out of the hole and hovered in mid air in front of them. Then its base started to get bigger, wider in fact. Ian looked at Susan, she had her eyes closed and taking breathing heavily. She was concentrating hard on what she was doing. Surround air molecules were gathering together to become solid around the Daleks base. Then she stopped, stepped out of the hole and onto the widened base of the Dalek.

"Are you sure that's safe?" Barbara asked nervously.

"Yes I'm sure it is," Susan said, "The tentacles should be able to hold us here."

"Ah well, pride comes before a fall," Ian said and stepped onto the base.

Some time later the Dalek touched down just outside the city, the Doctor, Ian Barbara and Susan stepped off its base which returned to its normal size.

"What should we do with this thing now?" Ian asked.

"I think we should keep it with us," Susan said.

"Why?" Barbara asked, "Haven't encountered anything really threatening apart from the Daleks."

"I think the Raston Warrior Robot might be here," Susan said and explained how she encountered the dead girl that had been its latest victim.

"Well from what we saw of it last time I don't think having a weapon would be much use against it," Ian said.

"I think its better to have a weapon of some sort, even if its going to be useless then to haven none at all," Barbara said sternly.

"Well let's hope we just don't encounter it," Ian said and the four of them strode into the forest with the Dalek gliding slowly behind them.

A Dalek glided along one of the bridges between the buildings then saw the hole in it. It examined the hole then turned to go; it had to report this to its superiors. The prisoners may have escaped.

Yistel looked down at the body of his daughter. It had been brought back on a stretcher after Untan had shown a small party of Thals where it was. They'd removed the spear from it which Yistel was now holding. It intrigued him; it was not a Dalek weapon. He thought about this, and about the box that had been found outside the wood. He started putting two and two together. Then he called together a small group of Thals.

"I've been thinking," he said to them, "We have two incidents here, first the discovery of the blue box. Second my daughter's murder. I have deduced that the same people are responsible for both incidents. I want you to go and find them, capture them and bring them here."

The Thals left, collecting weapons and then they went into the forest.

The Raston Warrior Robot carried on through the forest. It had homed in on every possible target and after the first one had checked to see whether it had been its actually target first. So far it had been unsuccessful. It was now homing in on another target, which was quite a distance away.

The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan continued their journey through the forest and back to the TARDIS. They all remained silent, Susan was getting nervous. She didn't like the forest, it was to quite and still. It gave her the impression that something was going to leap out and attack them. And it did. A Thal came out of the foliage quietly and struck Susan on the head with a metal club. She instantly fell unconscious and the Dalek stopped moving. The Thal dragged her back into the foliage; none of the others had noticed the incident. The Thal wasn't alone in, there were two others with him.

"What do we do know?" one of them asked.

"The others are further down their path, they can get them."

"What do we do with this one?"

"Tie her up and take her back to the camp, and make sure the bonds are very tight we don't want her escaping."

"She's wearing Anecdone's cloak," the third Thal said.

"Then they must have killed him and taken it from them. Even more reason to make sure she doesn't escape."

Twenty black Daleks were now assembling in a large room with a circular table in the middle showing a map of the surrounding area. Then two more Daleks entered, first a red one-the Dalek Prime, then a Gold one-the Dalek Supreme. They faced the black Daleks-the control Daleks that were surrounding the table.

"Dalek D41E9H has reported that the prisoners have escaped," the Dalek Supreme said, "Dalek D92Z4C was sent to bring them for interrogation, we have now lost track of Dalek D92Z4C."

"Activate the tracer signal," the Dalek Prime said to one of the Control Daleks.

The control Dalek manipulated a few controls on the table with its tentacles then a light started flashing in the middle of the map, in an area inside the forest.

"Dalek D92Z4C has been taking by the prisoners," the Dalek Supreme concluded, "We must assume that Dalek D92Z4C is now non-functioning."

The light stopped flashing.

"The prisoners are not important," the deep voice said, coming through communication systems in the room, "They will be destroyed when the Delta Wave sweeps across the planet. How long until it is ready?"

"12 hours," the Dalek Prime replied.

"Then get to your positions in readiness for it," the voice said. Then all the Daleks left the room.

"I wonder if the Daleks have noticed we've escaped," Ian said.

"Probably, that hole in the bridge would be difficult to miss," Barbara said.

"Yes," Ian said slowly, "You should have fixed that Susan," he added turning round, then he noticed.

"Doctor, Susan's gone," Ian said and the three of them stopped.

"How long do you think she could have been missing for?" the Doctor asked.

"Dunno," Ian said, "We've been walking through here for just over an hour or so."

"The Daleks gone to," Barbara pointed out.

"Do you think something might have got her?" Ian asked.

"I don't know," the Doctor replied, "As you said earlier the only hostile life…in fact the only life we've encountered so far is the Daleks."

"What about the Thal that gave Susan the drugs?"

"Well I don't he was hostile."

"You don't think the Dalek could have got her, it was right behind her after all."

"Don't be ridiculous," the Doctor said, "She had it perfectly under control and its operator was dead anyway."

"Yes but her concentration might have slipped and caused her to make the gun fire."

"Hmm…that could be a possibly," the Doctor said sounding as though he wasn't too sure if it was.

"Well if that did happen let's hope the gun wasn't on kill," Barbara said.

"Well I think we should go back and find her," the Doctor said.

"No need to do that," a voice said coming from a source hidden in the foliage.

The Thals came out of hiding; there were at least ten of them. They were surrounded.


	5. The Thals

Chapter 5: The Thals

One of the Thals brought the unconscious Susan to their camp, she now had her wrists and ankles bound tight. The Thal dumped her on the ground infront of Yistel who had been waiting for them.

"We caught this one," the Thal said, "There were three others with her. And a Dalek."

"A Dalek!" Yistel was shocked to hear this, why would the Daleks ally themselves with any other creature when they were determined to wipe out all life on the planet.

"Yes sir, but it stopped moving when we knocked her out."

"Well done Tenop, is there anything else?"

"Yes, we think they might have killed Anecdone."

"Why do you think that."

"She's wearing his cloak."

Yistel had noticed this fact, he stared at Susan and what he'd just been told was confirmed.

"Why would they kill him and take his cloak?"

"A trophy perhaps or maybe they just tried to steal it and killed him the process."

Yistel thought about this for a moment, wondering what they should do with Susan for the time being.

"Take her into my hut," he ordered, "And make sure it's guarded."

"Well you must be the Thals then," the Doctor said at the small band of armed Thals round them.

"That's right," one of them said, "And whoever you are you're not welcome here."

"Well if you don't want us then perhaps we can leave."

"No."

"Oh."

"Then what are you going to do with us then?" Ian asked.

"You will be taking back to our camp, after that what happens to you if up to our leader."

"Well let's hope he's the sort of man who isn't into killing people," Ian commented as they were ushered in the general direction of the Thals camp.

"I rather doubt it somehow," the Doctor said gravely."

Activity in the Dalek city was increasing. A high antenna mast had been raised on the roof of one of the buildings and a large number of white Daleks were massing in the room where Anecdone had been killed. All of them making constant checks on the equipment for what they were planning to do.

"Main power supply functioning?"

"Check."

"Transmitter functioning?"

"Check."

"Delta Wave Generator functioning?"

"Check."

"City defences functioning at full capacity?"

"Negative, city defences down to half power."

"Rectify immediately,"

"I obey."

The Raston Warrior robot heard all of this. It picked up all the information and processed this. Could the Delta Wave affect it? As it was an unknown weapon there was every possibility that it would. It worked out its new task, get inside the city before it was activated. That way it would survive, plus the targets would be killed as well. It located the city and set off towards it, keeping track of how long till they activated the wave. 10 and a half hours to go.

The Doctor faced Yistel in a very serious manner, trying his best to show authority towards the Thal leader. Ian and Barbara were now inside Yistel's hut with Susan and the Doctor was trying to persuade Yistel to release them.

"You were seen with a Dalek," Yistel said, "The Daleks are our enemies, and then you must be an enemy as well."

"That Dalek was dead and we only had it for protection," the Doctor replied, his tone of voice showing great anger, "The Daleks took us as prisoners, and I have been told that they also captured and killed one of your number who helped us."

"Helped you?"

"Yes, he provided us with a set of drugs against the radiation that has poisoned this planet. Now what was his name again…Anec something. Oh I can't remember."

"Anecdone?"

"Yes that was it, Anecdone."

"So you didn't kill him."

"No, the very thought of murdering someone is completely against my moral principals."

"Then do you know what this is?" Yistel asked and handed the Doctor the blood stained spear that had been taken out of his daughter's dead body.

"This is a weapon used by a machine that was sent to destroy us," the Doctor said, "It seems Susan was right then, it did manage to get here."

"What made you think likewise?"

"I thought I'd lost it in the vortex. Where did you find this weapon?"

"It was used to murder my daughter Tila. Tell me, why did it kill her?"

"I don't know, it is only programmed to kill either anything that attacks it or a specific target."

"Tila would not have attacked a creature like that, so neither reason could be applied to her death."

"Perhaps it mistook your daughter for Susan," the Doctor suggested, "How old was she?"

"About 15 years old," Yistel replied.

"I thought as much, about the same age as Susan."

"What is this creature then that only kills what is asked to or what threatens it?"

"A Raston Warrior Robot, perhaps one of the most intelligent machines in existence. But programmed to obey instructions."

"What does it look like?"

"It has humanoid shape, but it is made of metal and has a slivery outward appearance. And no facial features to speak of."

Yistel remained silent as the words sunk in; he wondered how it had encountered and killed his daughter and only left his son paralyzed. However had built such a creature must have been a very corrupted civilisation. Then his mind turned its attention towards the box they had found outside the forest.

"Do you know what this is then?" Yistel asked pointing it out.

The Doctor turned round, he hadn't noticed the TARDIS there, he wasn't pleased to see it.

"That is how we got here, our mode of transport. And I hate every bit of it."

"Why?"

"That is not important to you, so I won't tell you."

"Very well then that is your choice. May I see inside it."

"Well of course," the Doctor said producing the key from his pocket, "But it was heavily damaged on the journey here.

He opened the door and stepped inside. Yistel followed him then came straight back out again. He stared at the outside for a few minutes then stepped back inside. This was impossible, he couldn't find any explanation for it. The Doctor was looking at the console, he seemed very confused.

"I don't understand," he said to himself, "It's been repaired, but the outside, its still a Police Box. How could this be?"

Yistel ignored the Doctor's mutterings; he just stared at the interior of the TARDIS. He realised that the Doctor and his friends couldn't be there enemies after all.

"Halt."

The Raston Warrior robot turned round to see a Dalek advancing from behind. It was now inside the city, and it was being threatened. The Dalek fired a small burst from one of its gun sticks but it just deflected off the robots armour. If fired again and again, only damaging the surrounding buildings. Then the robot fired one of its spears. It went right through the Dalek casing and the creature inside, killing it. The Dalek's eye, tentacles and weapons dropped. The Robot moved on, leaving the dead Dalek where it was. It wasn't important.

The Doctor had opened up the TARDIS console and removed several of the bumps from the walls. He was now pulling out several of the electronic bits from inside but making sure everything was still connected. He didn't want to have to put everything back together again. Susan was doing the same from the console. Susan was examining every single component she came across, physically and mentally. Finding out what it was for, and what it was connected to. Then she pulled out a small glowing sphere, it seemed to be a bit battered and dirty.

"Grandfather what about this?"

The Doctor looked at the sphere with interest. It wasn't like anything he'd ever seen before in his life.

"What's it for?" he asked.

Susan focussed on the sphere, trying to find as much information about it as possible.

"It's a regenerator; it repairs any damage to the ship. Except this time its sustained damage so it's carried out an imperfect repair. The systems that have suffered a major effect from this fault are the navigational systems and the Chameleonic systems."

"Well I suppose that explains why its still a police box then," the Doctor said to himself, "I like it, gives it a bit of individuality."

Susan chuckled; at least there was something about the TARDIS the Doctor liked, since he loathed every single part of it.

A few hours later the Thals were sitting round a fire and eating. The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan were sitting separately from them talking about their options.

"I think we should just leave," Ian said, "Try to get back to Earth."

"I agree," Barbara added.

"Well I'm afraid trying is the only way we can get there," the Doctor said, "With the ship's navigation damaged we can't get to anywhere we want to."

"And the Raston Warrior Robot is still on the loose," Susan reminded them.

"Yes I wonder why we haven't encountered it yet," Ian murmured.

"I don't know," the Doctor replied, "All we know is that it's here and it wants to kill us."

"By us you mean you and Susan Doctor," Ian reminded him, "Its got nothing against me or Barbara or any of the Thals."

"And the robot isn't the only threat on this planet," Susan added, "Anecdone told me that the Daleks want to completely destroy the Thals."

"What are you suggesting Susan," Barbara asked.

"We should try to help them against the Daleks."

"Well I can't see any way we can," Ian said, "They've got weapons, and we haven't got any."

"We have a few weapons," they all looked up to see Yistel standing over them, "We want to destroy the Daleks before they destroy us. And we'll do our best to do just that."

A few hours later the Doctor was looking at a plan of the Dalek city, it was very old and worn with a few holes in it.

"Is there any way we can destroy them all in one go?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes," Yistel replied, "None of the Daleks have an internal power supply, its transmitter to them from a source within the city. If we deactivated that power source they'd all cease to function, after a while the creatures inside would die."

"Right, in that case that's what we'll do. I'll go into the city with Susan and try to deactivate it."

"Why just you and Susan?" Ian asked.

"Because if the Raston Warrior Robot turns no one else will get killed in its wake," the Doctor replied.

"Well that's your choice," Yistel said, "You're not one of my people so I can't command you to do otherwise."

"Good, Susan we'll leave immediately," the Doctor said, "And I think we'll pick up that Dalek on the way."

The Raston Warrior Robot stalked down the corridors of the Dalek city, so far it had been spotted and attacked by two more Daleks, and both had ended up dead. It continued to monitor the messages going from Dalek to Dalek on the progress of the Delta Wave; it knew every fault they'd encountered, every step that was being taken towards absolute efficiency and 100 of death outside the city. The Daleks were certain that after this the only life on Skaro would be Dalek life. And there were only three hours to go until it was activated. The robot was certain that it would survive in the city, then it detected something. Something it had been looking for. One of…no both its targets were now inside the city. It noted their location and went to find them, and to kill them. Both of them. Then it would return to its home planet, mission accomplished.

The Daleks had also detected the Doctor and Susan inside the city.

"Two of the escaped prisoners have returned to the city with Dalek D92Z4C."

"They are to be captured and brought for interrogation immediately. All non-essential Dalek personal to main city entrance, the beings are to be immobilised but not exterminated. All Daleks are to remain within city defences; Delta Wave will activate in two hours, fifty five minutes."


	6. Emperor Dalek

Chapter 6: Emperor Dalek

The Doctor and Susan crept cautiously through the Dalek city streets. The Doctor was checking the plan of the city at intervals and after a while selected an entrance to get inside the city leaving the Dalek they'd captured outside. They continued on down the endless maze of corridors, fully aware that the Daleks were watching them and hoping they didn't run into any. Elsewhere in the city the Raston Warrior Robot was making its way towards them, it was still quite a distance away and had a lot of corridors to get through, and a lot of Daleks that hadn't met it yet.

Ian was thinking about the Doctor's plan, they'd agreed if he wasn't back within two hours they'd attack the city themselves with the Thals. Ian thought that this was fairly suicidal but the Thals seemed determined to launch an assault on the Dalek city, whether they perished or not, Yistel has simply commented "If the Daleks kill us we won't have to worry about them any longer." Ian reminded himself of what had happened to him so far, it didn't seem that long ago that he'd picked up the call from Barbara about the Raston Warrior Robot. Really if it was choice of facing the Daleks or the robot he thought he'd take the robot, at least there was only one of it and it only wanted to kill the Doctor and Susan and not the rest of them. The Thals were gathering weapons together, a few were digging a hole to bury Yistel's daughter. Then Ian had a thought, they had one of the Raston Warrior Robot's spear weapons, could it have any effect on it? After all man was often vulnerable to his own weapons, though in most cases this was because that was the point of them. He'd seen what laser weapons couldn't do to the Robot but the Dalek's weapons didn't seem to work under the laser principle, something more different.

"Controlled energy bursts," Yistel explained when Ian asked him, "They fire the blasts at different power levels depending on what they want them to do, stun, kill, paralyse, torture, they can even take control of a victim's body."

"Yes Susan told me that's how they finally managed to capture her."

"And when that happens the only thing you have control over is your own thoughts, you can't even blink."

"What sort of twisted mind would develop a weapon like that?"

"The Thals used to have weapons like that, but they weren't quite the same. They could only stun or kill. The Daleks have taken them to whole new levels."

"They sound ruthless."

"They are, having almost no emotions does that to someone…especially when the only emotion is hate. Our scientists tried their best to help the victims of the Dalek virus, but to no avail. They were all killed."

"How long have the Daleks been in existence for?"

"About maybe one hundred and fifty three years, I'm not quite sure myself."

"Then I hope it isn't for much longer."

"So do I Ian, so do I."

"Dalek D75B0K, receiving incoming orders."

One of the Daleks was picking up the orders being transmitted directly to it, the Doctor and Susan were near by and it was being spurred into action. If set off down the corridor it was in, turned left and they were directly in front of it. It had been ordered not to kill them, well, not yet anyway.

"Halt."

The Doctor glanced round briefly at the Doctor and uttered just one word in response.

"Run!"

The Doctor shot down the corridor showing a surprising amount of energy for his age, so much so that Susan was lagging behind him with the Dalek closing. It set its sights on here, aimed its weapon, set the power, and fired. Susan collapsed, stunned.

The Raston Warrior Robot detected this, its targets had separated and one was out of action. It processed this information, to find out how it could use it. It tapped into the city surveillance cameras, focussing on the area where Susan was. The Dalek that has shot her down was now picking her up with its tentacles; the robot could hear the Daleks orders being transmitter, "Take her to be interrogated." The robot switched its focus to where the Doctor was; he'd stopped running and was now checking the plan of the city. The robot worked out which was nearer, Susan. But the Daleks were moving her, it decided to get as close as possible before it killed her.

The Daleks were going into the final stages of their plan, Delta Wave activation in one hour and twenty five minutes.

"We're going in."

"What?" Ian said in surprise.

"We're going to attack the Dalek city," Yistell explained, "At least we may be able to distract them and give the Doctor more time."

"But he said wait two hours."

"And we don't wait. We're going in."

Susan woke up and found that she was surrounded by a ring of twenty black control Daleks. She tried to stand up but one of them pushed her back down again. One of the Daleks turned round to face something Susan couldn't see.

"She has recovered," the Dalek announced.

"Then bring her closer to me for her interrogation," came the reply from a much deeper voice.

One of the Daleks grabbed Susan by the arms and pulled her to her feet and then pushed her towards what the Dalek had been talking two as the ring of Control Daleks parted. There, standing in front of her was what she presumed was some form of Dalek. It was a pyramid shape with an octagonal base. This rose up to a large head, this was also a pyramid but with a triangular base from which protruded the eye stalk. The pyramid had two large Dalek gun sticks attached to the side pointing directly at Susan; it also had the robotic tentacles, though they were larger and longer then standard Daleks. There was a large transparent globe set into the main body of the Dalek. This was filled with water and a repulsive creature with only one eye, tentacles and a badly proportioned anatomy. The creature's eye and the Dalek eye were both staring at Susan with an aim to inflict as much terror as possible, an aim that was very easily achieved. Standing on either side of the large Dalek were the Dalek Supreme and the Dalek Prime.

"Who are you?" the creature inside the globe said, the head of the Dalek it was in flashing as it spoke

Susan didn't answer.

"Who are you?"

No response.

"Answer! Answer!" the creature's voice getting steadily louder.

"Answer the Emperor Dalek's question," the Dalek Supreme said.

"Answer…answer…answer," all the Daleks in the room chorused the demand, the sound made Susan's ears ring.

Then there was silence, every eye in the room turned towards the Emperor Dalek.

"Very well then," the Emperor said, leaving Susan with a great sense of foreboding, she couldn't take her eyes of the Emperor's weapons.

Then she heard something, she looked up and a small cone shaped something descended from the ceiling. It stopped and hovered a few inches above her. She looked at it. Then a blinding light was emitted from it. Susan flung her arms up to shield her eyes as the light pulsated on and off, getting brighter and brighter all the time. Her head was almost exploding with pain, and she could hear the Daleks chorus around her, the sound echoing in her head, constantly repeating and never stopping.

"Answer… answer… answer… answer… answer… answer… answer…"

The Thals were poised and ready outside the city. Ian and Barbara were with them. Almost all of them armed with something be it an energy rifle scavenged from history or a wooden club. Either way it seemed that the Thals would be the losing side in the ensuing battle. Then they all heard Yistel give the order.

"Forward."

The Raston Warrior Robot knew what was happening to Susan, it was still linked into the surveillance cameras. He could see Susan writhing in pain on the floor. All the Daleks just staring at her, no reaction at all. The robot decided that he would present a report to its masters on the Daleks, they could make powerful allies. It sent out a signal with as much information as it could find about them, then it continued with its mission.

The Doctor was still wandering through the corridors, checking the plans every so often to see if he was on the right track. Not that it did him any good; he'd lost his way a bit after that mad dash away from the Dalek. He hoped Susan had managed to get away from it, maybe just taken a different route and was now as lost as he was. But something in the back of his mind told him otherwise, Susan was now at the mercy of the Daleks, if they had mercy at all.

"The information extractor has done its work," the Emperor announced and the cone rose back up into the ceiling.

Susan was now lying on the floor, shaking and breathing weakly. Virtually paralyzed from the effects of the information extractor. The Emperor now knew everything he needed to know. The Emperor considered what should be done with Susan, he knew everything about her now, including information she'd rather kept secret. And what about his Doctor, he had a machine that could travel through time. This could be a valuable asset for the Daleks; they'd never left the surface of their planet before. But only the Doctor had a way into the TARDIS. They had to get it from him, should they take it by force…no, he'd be given an opportunity to hand it to them willingly.

"Take her the Delta Wave testing centre, put her in the testing pod," the Emperor ordered, "But don't kill her…not yet."

"We obey," the control Daleks chorused together.

They closed in around Susan, one of them grabbed her ankles and dragged her out of the room, the other control Daleks following behind.

"Doctor."

The Doctor looked round, wandering where the deep voice was coming from.

"This is the Emperor Dalek," the voice said, "We have taken you're granddaughter, Susan, prisoner. But she will be released if you let us have the key to your ship, if you don't comply with this she will be exterminated."

The Doctor thought let the information soak in, wandering what he should do. If he gave it to them _would_ Susan be released, would she even be allowed to live? Would he? No. This didn't agree with what he knew about the Daleks, they were up to something. He thought he could hear Susan's voice in the back of his mind telling him the same thing. "Don't give in to them, either way they going to kill me." She was right of course, but then he remembered something. He checked the plans, there was a room labelled EMPEROR'S CHAMBER. And in the same room where the controls for the Daleks power source transmitter. This was his chance; he'd simply bluff his way into deactivating them. Then he heard something form behind him, he looked round and saw a Dalek advancing on him. Then it spoke.

"I've come to help you, grandfather."

It was the Dalek they'd captured, and Susan was controlling it again.

50 minutes to Delta Wave activation, the Daleks were almost ready. Soon they'd wipe the Thals from the face of the planet. The Raston Warrior Robot was also aware of this; it was homing in on Susan. It knew she was in a situation where she couldn't escape an attempt to kill her, and that was precisely what it was going to do. It checked its weaponry, fully functioning. It checked Susan present location; there were a few Daleks in there. No match for it. It could dispose of them as though it was swatting a fly.


	7. Attack

Chapter 7: Attack

Susan was now lying inside the Delta Wave testing tube that Anecdone had died in. Sitting next to her was a Delta Wave box, which the Daleks would activate if the Doctor didn't let them have the TARDIS. Susan still felt weak from the effects of the information extractor, in fact she could hardly move. She was now putting as much mental effort into controlling the Dalek. Guiding it along the same path as the Doctor, heading for the Emperor's lair. Around her the Daleks prepared the Delta Wave that would be released over the entire planet, wiping out any life on the planet. They were totally unaware that a group of Thals were now within the city's limits and defences.

The Thals worked there way through the streets, splitting into small groups of ten as they passed entrances to the buildings. Finally there were only ten left, including Yistel, Ian and Barbara.

"Well what do we do know?" Barbara asked, knowing what the answer would be.

"Know we go inside, and face the Daleks," Yistel replied and went inside.

The Raston Warrior Robot had found the surveillance centre; there it saw two Daleks monitoring the screens. The Daleks were watching several of the screens, nearly all of them showing the Thals inside the city.

"Surveillance centre repor…" one of the Daleks sent a message to the emperor, but this was cut short when the Robot fired a spear straight into it.

The other Dalek turned round facing the robot. It fired energy beams from both its gun sticks, both deflecting off the robot and hitting the walls of the corridor. The robot advanced inside the room. The Dalek continued firing, the rebounds hitting nearly everything inside the room. The screens, the control consoles, even the dead Dalek. Then the robot fired another spear into the Dalek. It died. The robot flicked a knife out of its right hand and cut the Dalek open, removing most of the internals. Then it got into the casing, closed it, and glided out of the room.

One group of Thals turned down corridor after corridor, not once did they encounter anything significant. Then they saw a Dalek in front of them. If fired, hitting and killing two Thals. One Thal raised an energy rifle and fired, the Dalek exploded. The Thals cheered and pushed on, deeper into the city.

The Doctor looked down the corridor in front of him. There was one Dalek approaching. He turned to the Dalek with him.

"Susan, destroy the Dalek out there," he said.

"Alright," the Dalek said, "I'll do my best."

It turned into the corridor, drawing closer and closer to the other Dalek. Then without warning fired, the Dalek exploded.

"Well done," the Doctor said and strode off down the corridor, getting closer and closer to his destination all the time. He wondered what would happen if he got there? Would he be killed on sight or would the TARDIS key just be taken from him again. Either way didn't matter to him, he'd be glad to be rid of it really, but he wasn't going to give it to them. He knew what would happen if these machines got into the wrong hands, he'd seen it first hand. And he didn't like it one bit.

The Daleks checked and rechecked everything for the Delta Wave, only twenty minutes to go.

Another Dalek glided into the large number already assembled in the Delta Wave test area, most of the Daleks were white and they were all preparing the Delta Wave. But this one just manoeuvred itself into a corner and stayed there, observing its surroundings. It looked at the Daleks at the control panels lining the walls and the consoles in the middle of the room, and the cylinder with Susan inside it. There she was, vulnerable and ready to die. The Dalek fired but the beam was deflected off the cylinder and into another Dalek. It fired again, this time it deflected into a console. Susan was only partially aware of what was happening. The other Daleks turned on the new arrival. And started opening fire. The blasts tore the Dalek to pieces revealing its occupant…the Raston Warrior Robot.

The Emperor was receiving a message, an emergency message from the Delta Wave test area.

"_Alert_…_alert_…_report presence of hostile intruder_…_request assistance immediately_."

The Emperor analysed this then gave the order.

"All available Daleks to converge on the Delta Wave test area. Control Daleks to report to me. Immediately."

The Dalek Prime and the Dalek supreme remained still and silent. Waiting for their orders as the Control Daleks glided into the room.

Yistel watched as a group of fifteen Daleks glided out of a room, he aimed an energy rifle at one of them. A few other Thals did the same, and Ian and Barbara ducked. The Daleks hadn't seen them. The Thals opened fire, destroying four of the Daleks. The survivors retaliated. Firing back upon the Thals who dodged almost all the shots, two of the Thals were hit, and it was a fatal hit. The resulting gun battled ended with four Thals dead and thirteen Daleks destroyed, the other two had escaped.

"Yistel, don't do that again," Barbara said shaking slightly from the shock of the gunfire.

Yistel looked at her, a look that suggested that he would do it again…very soon.

The carnage in the test area was absolute; nearly all the control panels had been damaged or destroyed in either deflected gun fire aimed at the Raston Warrior Robot or shots that had just missed. As well as firing on the Daleks the Raston Warrior Robot was firing spear after spear at the testing Cylinder. Each one just glanced off. Susan was cowering inside it, hoping that neither of them would get inside of have a chance to kill her. She thought about the Delta Wave box that was in here with her, could she transport it outside and use it on the Daleks? Would their casings deflect it? How much power did it have? And would it affect the Raston Warrior Robot? She then realised that she couldn't send it outside, she was using up to much concentration on the Dalek that was helping the Doctor. And that help couldn't be wasted.

"_Damage sustained to Delta Wave test area heavy_," came a report from one Dalek being sent to the Emperor, "_Chances of Delta Wave still functioning are now unlikely_."

The Emperor felt a grate rush of hatred towards this intruder, greater hatred than usual. It had destroyed their plans and all their equipment for carrying it out. Whoever had created and sent that creature here would pay for it.

"_Alert…alert…Thals in city…repeat…Thals in city_," another report.

This was disastrous. The Daleks were fighting a battle, and losing. This could not happen, it couldn't.

They were all dead. All the Daleks, either with a Raston Warrior Robot spear sticking out of their casing or destroyed by a deflection of their own energy blasts. The robot now faced the cylinder, it wasn't staring. It couldn't stare as it didn't have any eyes but Susan stared back. Fear rising within her as the inevitable drew closer, and so did the robot.

"We must fight back against this creature," the Dalek Supreme said.

"I agree," added the Dalek Prime.

"It must be destroyed," one of the control Daleks pronounced, and the other control Daleks chorused this, "It must be destroyed…It must be destroyed…It must be destroyed…It must be destroyed…It must be destroyed…"

"SILENCE," the Emperor bellowed and silence there was.

"Good thing to, you probably didn't hear me coming with that racket."

All eye stalks turned, the Doctor had arrived.

The robot opened the cylinder, Susan looked at it trying not to show that she was very, very scared. The robot flicked a knife out of both its hands, and prepared to strike. It raised its arms…and then an energy blast hit it in the back the blast was deflected but the robot was thrown forward, into the cylinder. Susan scrambled out quickly and saw that Yistel's group of Thals had arrived. One of them closed and sealed the cylinder. The robot pounded against it, but no result.

"What do we do with it now?" Barbara asked.

"I don't know," Ian replied, "That thing can't be destroyed remember."

"What about the Delta Wave?" Susan said and pointed to the small box inside the cylinder, "Could that put it out of action?"

"I don't know," Ian said, "But it's worth a try."

Susan turned her mind away from the Dalek and focussed instead on the box, activating it. The robot lurched, its body stiffening; it started jerking about inside the cylinder. Smoke pouring out of its joints. Then its head exploded, closely followed by the rest of its body. The cylinder was now blackened with the heat of the explosion.

"Like I said, it was worth a try," Ian commented.

The Doctor faced the Emperor. He was surrounded on all sides by the control Daleks with the Dalek Supreme and the Dalek Prime in front of him. If they wanted to kill him they could do it at any time. Just not yet.

"So what do you want from?" he asked.

"You're time machine…the TARDIS I believe you call it," the Emperor said, its voice echoing around the room.

"And what will you do with it once you have it?"

"Spread the Dalek existence throughout space and time, we will create the first Dalek Empire."

"Not good enough," the Doctor said.

"If you do not give it to us you will be exterminated."

"Oh really, well if you kill me you can just take it from me. If I give it to you you'll probably kill me anyway, is that right?"

"Yes."

"Then either way I'm going to die and you're going to get the TARDIS."

"Yes, and you will not be the last."

"I didn't think so."

Silence gripped the room as the Doctor looked at the emperor eye to eye; he wasn't quite sure which eye to look at, the mechanical eye or the eye of the mutated creature inside. He decided to look at the mechanical one, the other made him feel a bit sick. He thought about the Dalek Susan was controlling, he needed to give her time to deactivate the Daleks.

"You know, if I go to another planet I generally like to know what its called," the Doctor said.

"We call our world Skaro," the Emperor replied.

"Very appropriate," the Doctor muttered thinking about he ravaged landscape outside.

"And your world Doctor, I already know its name."

"Oh yes, how?"

"I extracted the information from the girl Susan; she didn't give it to me willingly. I know why you left there, why you stole a TARDIS and why you despise it so much. You are nothing more than a renegade, there is nowhere for you to go, you can only hide. Your own story is…WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" the Emperor bellowed these last few words, it had spotted the Dalek that Susan was controlling at one of the control panels lining the walls. All eyestalks turned towards it as it manipulated the controls, the control Daleks advanced on it.

"Cease."

"Halt."

"Desist."

"Desist."

"Discontinue action."

The control Daleks chorused several different variations of the order to stop but the Dalek ignored them. Then they opened fire. Each shot struck home, damaging but not stopping the Dalek. It continued its work and then…

Thals attacked Dalek after Dalek, and the Daleks attacked back. So both were surprised when the Daleks just stopped. They ceased to function, to attack, to do anything. In the Delta Wave test area Susan relaxed, letting go of her control over the Dalek.

"That's it," she said, "Their powers gone. We can go know."

The Doctor stared up at the Emperor, this time at the mutant in the globe.

"Looks like you're not going to get the TARDIS after all then," he chuckled.

"You will regret this," the Emperor said, no longer with the electronic drone of a Dalek but a high pitched scraping voice, one that it had difficulty using.

"We'll see…we'll see," the Doctor said and left.

The Doctor stood at the TARDIS console, setting the controls for take off…at least he thought he was. They'd said their goodbyes to the Thals and to Skaro itself. Now they were back inside the time machine.

"So what happens know?" Ian asked.

"Know we try and get you two back to Earth," the Doctor said, "I won't be easy without working navigation."

"You mean we could end up anywhere?"

"Precisely."

"Well at least it's more exiting then being a museum tour guide," Barbara said, "I just hope not everywhere is like this world."

"Don't worry," the Doctor said, "Not everywhere is like this," he revisited the temptation to say that most places were much worse.

Outside the Thals watched the TARDIS vanish. Where had they come from and where were they going?

Inside the city the Emperor looked on at the deactivated Daleks, they weren't dead…yet. But they would be soon; they couldn't survive for long without the life support system that the machines provide. Then a large green metal box materialised in the room. A man stepped out and headed towards the power controls, switching them back on. Throughout the city Daleks sprang to life. The Emperor looked at the man, and the man looked back.

"Sir, I think we have things to discuss," the man said.

The End?


End file.
